Lutein extract in the treatment of decreased menstruation and the premature menopause / Ellice McDonald.

  • McDonald, Ellice, 1876-1955.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Lutein extract in the treatment of decreased menstruation and the premature menopause / Ellice McDonald. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    7/12 (page 7)
    ano,11 from the investigation of 95 cases at operation, found that in only 59 did ovulation occur at the same time as menstruation, so that it is possible that ovulation may occur at any time in the month. Villemin12 states that rupture of the follicle usually occurs ten or twelve days before menstruation, and that the period after rup- ture corresponds to the production of the corpus luteum. These facts are interesting in determining the time at which lutein therapy should be applied each month. It is obvious, therefore, that the consensus of opinion of experimenters and investigators is that even if the corpus luteum of the ovary is not the cause or exciting stimulus of menstruation, at least this internal secretion of lutein has a distinct influence on the production of menstruation. Therefore, it is possible that if this lutein or corpora lutea is supplied to the organism, menstruation may be influenced in some degree. With this aim, numerous investigators have obtained corpus luteum extract of the ovary from animals, with the hope of being able by opotherapy to influence menstruation and particularly, the surgical menopause. Fraenkel reported good results with the lutein extract, and Ferroni13 made a study of the effect of injections of corpora lutea of the ovary in animals, and reported much better results from the lutein alone than when the whole ovary was used. He believed that the effect of the injected corpora lutea was cyclic, and that there was profound metabolic change. Magalhaes14 also re- ported good results with the lutein extract clinically. Many others have reported good results. CLINICAL EXPERIMENTS With the hope of being able to benefit some of the persistent cases of premature and surgical menopause, I have been for nearly five years experimenting clinic- ally with a desiccated extract of corpora lutea of the ovary of cows, obtained by skinning the outside of the ovary with a sharp knife in order to obtain as much of the essential substance as possible, drying and powder- ing. The cow was chosen on account of the relatively large amount of lutein cells present. 11. Leopold and Ravano : Arch. f. Gynlik., 1009, Ixxxviil, 3. 12. Villemin : La Gynecologie, May, 1908. 13. Ferroni: Ann. di. Obstet. Gynec., May,-1907.